


We're the monsters who give a damn

by bees_stories



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angels are not Dicks, Dean is Bad at Feelings, Episode Related, Gen, Home truths, Mark of Cain, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 12:46:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3209711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bees_stories/pseuds/bees_stories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They needed to talk. Just because Claire decided to kick things off with an ambush is no reason not to say the things that have to be said. Spoiler Alert:  This is a missing scene from SPN episode 10.10 The Hunters Games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're the monsters who give a damn

***

"So – " Dean glances over at Claire. She's horrified, both by what's just happened, and at the part she played in arranging it. And that, in Dean's estimation, is a good thing. It means she's still redeemable. "I take it that watching them ambush me didn't seem as satisfying as it did when you were sitting around the campfire getting loaded and playing, 'Wouldn't it be awesome?'"

Claire drops her eyes. She looks at the ruin of the bench and her entire body shudders with revulsion. "No," she whispers. 

Dean inhales deeply and then he lets the breath out again. The exhalation carries away some of the battle rage. The rest, well, he'll just have to manage, even if the Mark doesn't like it. Then he shrugs. "For what it's worth, I get it. I really do. Randy was a douche bag and a creep, but he was all you had at a time when it seemed like the whole world was out to get you. Social Services. The cops. They were supposed to be the good guys and yet they were the ones who were keeping you down. While Randy – " He trails off and lets Claire fill in the blanks. In her upside down world, Randy was the hero. The father figure who could do no wrong. 

"And then Cas shows up, wearing your dad's face. And he's all apologetic because if it hadn't been for him needing Jimmy's meatsuit, then your life would have never gone straight down the crapper."

"It wasn't fair!" Claire wails with all of the angst only a teenager can feel. 

Her anger resonates in Dean's bones and it makes the Mark itch for vengeance. For a couple of heartbeats, until he pulls himself under control, all Dean wants to do is pick up the ax and tear into something. Anything. As long as he can do some damage. He slaps his hand over his forearm, physically containing the urge.

He can't tell Claire about all the crap that's led up to this point, or the part Cas played in it, because a lot of it isn't his story to tell. But Claire needs some kind of explanation. Something to help her make sense of things. She needs a lifeline or she's going to end up even more lost than she already is. 

"I know you think I'm a monster." Dean shrugs. He is what he is, there's no point denying it to anyone, least of all Claire, and especially not to himself. "You're right. I am. But I'm a monster with a zero tolerance policy for creeps who think they're modern day versions of Fagin, and other creeps who think nothing of buying vulnerable young girls to pimp out until they're too used up to sell. Because, trust me, Claire, that's exactly the deal that was going down when we showed up." 

The truth hurts. Dean can see it in the way Claire's body flinches with the physical pain of betrayal and the way her mouth trembles because she doesn't want to cry in front of him. He's hurting her. As sure as if he'd slammed his fists into her ribs or smacked his palm across her pretty face. He'd feel bad about it, but he can't. Not anymore. He's that much of a monster. 

"So yeah, I am a monster. Cas is a monster. For what he did to your dad. But we're the monsters who give a damn. We're the monsters that are trying to help you get off the dark road you're walking down and maybe even make some of what happened to you right."

"That was some speech." Claire straightens her spine. She swallows and gives Dean a look that is mostly bravado. But there's something in the pause between the time she raises her arms to cross over her chest and the nervous pass of the tip of her tongue against her upper lip that suggests that maybe, just maybe, she's taken some of what he had to say on board. 

Dean shrugs again. "I was here. It needed saying. You don't have to thank me for rescuing you – " His gaze drifts to the bat and he gets an idea. "I don't expect you to. In fact – " He reaches for the bat and thrusts it into Claire's hands, so she has no choice but to accept it, and then he raises his arms above his head, interlocking his wrists with his hands, so that he stands completely exposed. " – if you want to take a pop at me, right here, right now, I won't stop you." He smiles at Claire in invitation. "Hell, the way I figure it, unlike your buddies, you've earned it." 

Claire flings the bat away in a numb display of horror. It clatters against the gravel. Slowly Dean lowers his arms, splaying his fingers wide to show that, despite everything, he's not a threat. 

"Why do you care?" There is anger in Claire's voice. But mostly she's seriously confused. "Who am I to you?"

"Nothing." Dean shrugs. Why is it so much of what needs to be said is done with a gesture of indifference? "You're nobody. Just one more screwed up kid among millions. But I do care about Cas. And Cas … well, he's not ready to give up on you. Not just yet." 

Throwing the implied threat that even Cas might eventually give up is a low blow, but the kid glove approach hasn't exactly been a ringing success, so why not go there? 

"Cas wants to make things right, Claire, so give him that chance." There doesn't seem to be anything else to say after that. Everything that happens from here on out is up to Claire. Dean reaches for his keys. "I'm done." He turns and walks away. Back to the Impala. Back to the Bunker. Back to go beat a solution out of Metatron before the Mark gets the upper hand permanently. 

He can feel Claire's gaze boring a hole into his back. He can practically feel the waves of confusion and wounded pride, and residual anger. The regret that she didn't pick up the bat and take a swing when she had the chance. But she doesn't move. Dean goes as far as giving her a full sixty seconds after he kicks over the engine, just in case Claire wants to have a Lifetime Movie moment, but nothing happens. 

There's just the sound of the engine. And that of time, slipping away.

end


End file.
